Snowfall
by Callioope
Summary: It's Christmas, and Tomoyo is vacationing with Sakura, Syaoran, and their children (they're out of school, now). Unexpectedly, Eriol turns up and, in the midst of a snowstorm, Tomoyo and Eriol go to find Sakura's daughter... ExT fluff.


**__**

Author's Note: Here's a little early Christmas present! Heh heh. I wasn't going to post this until it was closer to Christmas, but I couldn't wait. -_-;; Well, anyway, I hope you like it. I know I enjoyed writing it. Thank you, Zealy-chan, for helping me edit it! I appreciate it!

Also, I'm working on a new Harry Potter fic (NOT Julie Weasley and the Forbidden Forest…). Actually, I'm working on two. I finished the first draft of one, but it REALLY needs editing, and so will the one I'm writing now. Is there anyone who'd be willing to beta read my fics? I need someone who isn't a friend (let's face it, my friends are nice and all, but they never give any constructive criticism!). Thanks!

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Disclaimer: The characters in this story are the property of CLAMP, a group of anime artists in Japan (they are from Card Captor Sakura). However, the plot is original, and so are the children, Ayame and Sying.

=^.^=

****

Snowfall

A whisper in the wind, an eerie howl in the night. Shadows stretch across a snowy plain, waving and reaching like lost souls begging for mercy. Falling white flakes swirled against the dark night sky. 

In the midst of the ice storm lay a cozy little cabin, sitting at the edge of a dark and dreary wood. It perched at the top of a snow-covered hill that curved gracefully to the city below.

At the window of the cabin shivered a small girl. She peered out the window, wide-eyed and worried, hugging the blanket wrapped around her. She blinked, staring out into the dark oblivion, before turning back to the pleasant scene around her.

On a comfy chair across the room, her mom's best friend sat, intrigued in a book. To the right was another chair, where her older brother sat playing solitaire on the coffee table in front of him. Between her brother and her "aunt" was a small table on which the lamp sat - the only light in the room. 

"Aunt Tomoyo!" the little girl squeaked, "When will Daddy get here?"

'Aunt' Tomoyo looked up from her book, sighing.

"Ayame, Aunt Tomoyo just answered that question five minutes ago. She doesn't know when Dad will get here."

"Maybe she figured it out since last time I asked!" Ayame countered.

"Children, don't fight," Tomoyo preached, "Ayame, I still don't know when your father will get here. Sying, Ayame asked me, not you." Ayame stuck her tongue out at out her older brother, who rolled his eyes and finished his game of solitaire.

For a while, the room went quiet, as Tomoyo went back to her book and Ayame continued to stare out the window. The only sounds they heard were the wind howling and the clock ticking. At the sound of footsteps, they turned to the doorway.

"Mommy!" Ayame jumped up from the couch, dropping her blanket, only to sit back down and wrap around herself once more, shivering.

Ayame's mother sat a tray of hot cocoa down on the coffee table, and sat down next to her daughter, who snuggled up into her lap. 

"When is Daddy coming?" Ayame repeated, for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"Ayame, you've asked that question a _million_ times already!" Sying pointed out, setting his deck of cards on the table.

"I have not!"

"You have too!"

"Have not!"

"Have too!"

"Children!" Sakura, their mother, shouted, "Stop fighting. We don't know when Daddy's coming. We'll just have to wait and see. In the mean time, why don't we play some cards?"

"Okay!" Ayame agreed, sitting down on the floor, legs under the table, "Aunt Tomoyo can play too!" She smiled, looking up at Tomoyo expectantly.

"Oh, all right. What should we play?" Tomoyo put down her book and moved her chair to the table.

Ayame thought for a moment, deciding between her two favorite games. "Go Fish! Go Fish!" she decided.

Sying scowled. "Aren't you tired of that game yet?" The only thing they had played the previous day was Go Fish, and _he_ was tired of it.

"No! Let's play! Let's play!"

"One more time won't hurt, Sying."

"Fine," Sying pouted.

After about ten games of Go Fish, Ayame's father still hadn't returned to their cabin. He was on an errand in the city, and had promised to bring an old friend back with him. It was almost ten o'clock, and there was still no sign of him. Everyone was cold and tired and wanted to go to bed - if they weren't already asleep. Ayame was buried under her blanket, fast asleep. No one else could sleep, as their worry for the missing father was keeping them up. Sakura entered the room once more, after getting everyone refills of hot cocoa and blankets.

"Here's your cocoa," she said, setting down the tray, "And your blankets." She handed a blanket to Sying and Tomoyo, taking one for herself.

A man appeared in the doorway, covered in snow and looking even more tired than the people in the room did. "I'm home!" he called. Sakura jumped up, surprised, and whirled around. 

"Syaoran!" she cried, running into his arms. "You're okay!" Sying quickly followed, but stopped behind his mother. Ayame, awoken by the shouts of joy, peeked over her blanket. 

"Daddy!" She leaped from the chair, almost tripping on her blanket, which fell to floor, "I missed you!" She joined her mother hugging him, and Sying decided that as long as none of his friends were around, it'd be okay if he hugged his family too.

Tomoyo stood up. "It's good that you're home, Li-kun. We were all worried."

"That's good to hear, but you can see, there is no need to worry." His family parted, to let him sit down and tell them what happened. "Like I promised, I brought back with me an old friend."

"Who?" Sakura asked, excited. 

"Eriol Hiiragizawa."

"WHAT?!" Tomoyo and Sakura chorused.

A tall man with dark hair and glasses stepped into the doorway. "Good evening. Pleased to see you all again."

"Eriol-kun? What are you doing here?" Sakura asked, blinking.

"It was Syaoran's idea, strange as it may seem. I was in town, and he invited me to come and stay with you for a while. He figured it'd be a nice reunion, and I agreed."

"Oh." Sakura blinked again. "Well, these are our children, Ayame and Sying." Ayame, who was hiding behind her mother, peeked out and looked at Eriol. Sying smiled a hello.

"I hear that you are quite good at playing cards, Hiiragizawa-san," he commented.

"Yes, I am a bit good, if I do say so myself." He turned to look at Tomoyo, who was quietly standing by the coffee table. "No one told me Daidouji-san would be here."

"Then perhaps we are equally surprised to see one another."

"Yes, it would appear so."

There was a short silence in the room until Sakura shoved everyone over to sit around the coffee table. "Let's play a little cards and catch up on things, before we go to bed."

"Sounds like a great idea. What should we play?" 

Groans followed Ayame's excited answer of, "Go Fish! Go Fish!"

=^.^=

After breakfast the next day everyone had gone outside, split into two teams, and started a snowball fight. No one really won, but they all had fun anyway. And so, when they were all tired, cold, and wet from snow that had melted on them, they went inside for a cup of cocoa, which they must have had an endless supply of. They gathered around the coffee table once more, after everyone had changed. Their boots, scarves, and mittens were thrown down on the floor by the fireplace, their coats hung up on a coat rack on the wall. 

It didn't take them long to figure that something was missing. The house was quiet, which was strange, because Ayame was usually bouncing around. Wait a minute . . . 

"Where's Ayame?" Tomoyo asked, standing up and looking around.

Silence.

"She's probably hiding somewhere," Sying accused.

"Right."

But for half an hour everything was silent and there was no sign of Ayame anywhere. So they started a frantic search for the missing girl.

"I'll go outside and look for her," Tomoyo said, grabbing her coat.

"I'll go with you," Eriol said quickly. Tomoyo glanced at him, somehow missing the tinge of pink appearing on his cheeks. "I mean, a storm is coming and we wouldn't want you to get lost, too."

"Right . . ." Tomoyo hesitated. She could see the logic in that. But wouldn't three missing people be worse than two missing people?

=^.^=

It was strange that every thing could change so quickly. Just a few hours before, they had hurled snow and been pelted with snow under a clear blue sky. How one minute they could be so carefree and the next worried to death was beyond them. Now the sky was dark and threatening, and the freezing wind bit their cheek rosy. There was no sign of Ayame anywhere out in the icy surroundings for what seemed like miles already.

Tomoyo and Eriol had been searching the woods and scooping hill for an excruciatingly long time. It had gotten a lot harder to see with the darkness ensuing, but things were worse when the snow started to fall. When the first flake fell, they knew that if Ayame were out there, there would be no chance for her. Tomoyo hoped with all her heart that her best friend's daughter was safe inside the cabin.

And when they were halfway up the hill, the snow really started to fall. It was too thick to see through, and was quickly rising. Tomoyo shivered. Eriol said something, but Tomoyo couldn't hear him over the howling of the storm. She shouted above the storm, asking him to repeat himself.

"We should try to find shelter!" he shouted, though she only barely heard him. She nodded. They had already grabbed onto each other's hands as to not lose each other in the madness circling around them. Eriol pulled Tomoyo, but she couldn't tell which way they were going. And she figured he had no idea, either, because it was impossible to tell where you were going.

So they trudged through the rising snow, loosing track of time. It could have been minutes, or hours. At one point through their freezing march they ran into a tree. From then on, they could see darker shapes around them that must have been the outlines of other trees. They were traveling through the dank woods, which was obvious.

In the icy torment, Tomoyo felt like crying. It was so cold, so incredibly cold. Her hair and shoulders were covered in snow, and her face stung with each touch of ice flakes. She let out a loud sob, and Eriol quickened his pace, pulling Tomoyo along with him.

She looked at the man in front of her. He hadn't changed much since she last saw him in fourth grade. He still had the same dark hair, same glasses, same mysterious violet-gray eyes, and she remembered smirk he always wore on his face. Except, the smirk wasn't there now. It was replaced with concern.

She had always thought that she was almost equal to him; they did have very similar qualities. They had both been in love with people that loved someone else, and were both very manipulative when they wanted something. But now, she realized that he was very different than her; he was stronger. She felt like crying, like collapsing in the snow and giving up all hope. But he pulled her along. He had moved even faster when she sobbed.

__

Why does he even bother to help me? We aren't really friends, are we? Why does he seem to care so much? Questions swarmed through her head, and distracted her from the current situation. Which might have been for the better, as she was thinking about something other than the stinging snowflakes and shrieking wind. 

"Daidouji-san!" Tomoyo looked up at the sound of her name, and met Eriol's softened gaze. Her heart skipped a beat, and took a few seconds to start thinking clearly again. "There's a cave somewhere around here!" he shouted, pointing into the darkness.

Tomoyo blinked. "How can you tell?" she shouted back. He took a step forward, still holding Tomoyo's hand, and the cave entrance was right in front of them. "Oh…"

They entered the cave, and the roar of the wind deafened. Tomoyo brushed the snow off, finally letting go of his hand. Her hand had been kept warm at the touch of his, and when she let go the cold air turned it cold in seconds. 

"Hiiragizawa-kun, is it safe to enter a cave like this?"

"It's better than staying out there, don't you think?"

"I suppose." Tomoyo sat down, back resting against the cold stone. She was too tired to care about the cold, however. Eriol sat down next to her. "How did this happen?" Eriol didn't answer. "I hope Ayame is alright. If she were out here, in this weather, then . . . "

"Don't think about it."

"I know." Tomoyo sighed, and immediately started shivering. "Is there anyway to build a fire?"

"Any branches that could possibly be in the area would be cold and wet. We wouldn't be able to make a fire out of those."

Tomoyo stayed silent, shivering against the cold stonewalls. She was tired and cold, and still felt like giving up then and there. How would they be able to make it through the night, under these conditions? Too many thoughts were going through her head at one time, she was still thinking about that look on Eriol's face, how worried he seemed. How comforting it was to be next to him. It felt so safe she almost didn't have to worry about surviving through the night, because if he was there, then there was nothing to worry about . . . 

__

Wait, whoa, slow down a minute! Where did that_ come from? It must be . . . I'm tired, worried, cold . . . I'm just not thinking straight . . . _

"Daidouji-san?"

__

I mean, he's just a friend. I barely know him, the last time I saw him was . . . too long ago. So long ago. I wish he could have stayed in Japan instead of moving back to England. Things were a lot different after he left. She sighed. _Him being there kind of made me forget about -_

"Tomoyo!"

Tomoyo shook herself back to reality. "What happened?" she asked, fully alert.

"You were nodding off to sleep."

"Was I?"

"We should try to stay awake. We don't have any heat, and if we fell asleep, we might never wake up."

"But . . . I'm so tired . . . how can I possibly stay awake for the whole storm, until it's safe to find our way back to the cabin?"

"Well . . . I do have a deck of cards."

"You _do_?" Tomoyo blinked.

"Doesn't everybody?" Eriol asked, confused. Tomoyo just sighed. "Are we playing or not?"

"All right. I suppose that could work. But we are _not_ playing Go Fish."

Eriol just laughed.

For a long time they played cards, from poker, to slap jack. And by the time they had played everything they could think of, the storm was still going. 

"What are we going to do now? I'm bored of these cards."

"You could sing."

Tomoyo hesitated. "I don't think so. It's not really . . . fitting. Besides, what would I sing? And what would you do? Don't tell me that you have a piano with you."

Eriol smirked. "No, I don't have a piano with me. Besides, you're singing might put me to sleep."

Tomoyo's jaw dropped. "What are you saying? Are you insulting my voice? I'll have you know, I've won awards for singing - "

"Don't get mad at me now. I never said you were a bad singer."

"You never said it. You just implied it."

"No."

"_No_?"

"I'm hurt, I'm really hurt."

"Why is that, Hiiragizawa-kun?"

"Well, Daidouji-san, I was just paying you a _compliment_, and you go and jump to conclusions that I'm insulting you."

"Hiiragizawa-kun - "

"_Daidouji-san_, was I not the one who suggested you sing in the first place?"

Tomoyo looked down. "I suppose. But my voice is a little hoarse from the cold."

"It wouldn't be that bad."

"So you still want me to sing?"

"If you wouldn't mind, yes I would."

Tomoyo hesitated. "All right, then."

"What will you sing?"

"Hmm." Short silence. "Tomorrow is Christmas, is it not?"

"My! I seemed to have forgotten. Yes, it is."

"Then I will sing a Christmas carol." She cleared her voice.

Her voice rang through the cave, mystical and beautiful. She completely lost herself in the music and the words.

"_Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Round yon virgin, mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace_."

She stopped upon seeing the sleepy look on Eriol's face. He also seemed a bit dazed. That's strange . . . 

"Hiiragizawa-kun! Are you alright?!"

Eriol shook himself out of his trance. "That was . . . beautiful."

"Thank you."

"Sing for me again, please."

"I'm afraid I might put you to sleep if I do."

"You have a very pretty voice, Daidouji-san."

"Thank you, Hiiragizawa-kun."

Eriol sighed, leaning back against the cold stonewall of the cave. Then he burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Tomoyo demanded, slightly annoyed.

"How long have we known each other?"

Tomoyo sent him a confused glance. "Fourth grade . . ."

"That long. Yet we still call each other formally."

Tomoyo giggled. "That is a bit strange."

'Yes, it is. I don't think I'd mind being called Eriol, Daidouji-san."

"I'll only call you that if you call me Tomoyo."

"You have yourself a deal, Tomoyo-chan."

Tomoyo smiled. "How long do you think we've been here?"

"I don't know. I don't have a watch."

"You don't have a watch, but you have a deck of cards?"

"Correct," Eriol stated, with a smirk. It was the same one of her reminiscence. 

Tomoyo sighed. "Well, it couldn't have been too long."

"No. I'd be surprised if it was any more than two hours."

Tomoyo nodded her head in agreement.

There was a short silence, and then a loud growl. Tomoyo looked around nervously. "…What was that?"

"Heh heh. Just me," Eriol confessed.

"You? You're stomach is that loud?!"

"Yeah."

Tomoyo burst out laughing. And then an even louder growl rumbled. Tomoyo stopped laughing and blushed. It was Eriol's turn to let go of his laughter.

"That was you, I presume?" he asked between deep giggles. 

"Yeah."

And then they both burst out laughing until their stomachs hurt. Of course, this didn't help the fact that they were both very hungry. When they couldn't laugh any longer, they both sighed. Tomoyo looked out to the entrance of the cave, but couldn't make anything out from the darkness. She shivered, suddenly reminded of their current situation.

"Are you okay?" Eriol asked.

"I'm fine. Just a little cold, but what can you expect, given the current circumstances."

"I could lend you my coat," Eriol offered.

"No! I would never be able to live, knowing that you froze to death without a coat, which I had. Don't even think of it!"

"All right, if you say so."

Tomoyo frowned. "Don't take this the wrong way, Eriol-kun, but I had expected more of an argument from you."

"Did you change your mind?"

"No."

"I'm not going to argue with you, Tomoyo-chan. It'd be pointless."

"You're right."

"Of course I am."

Tomoyo rolled her eyes. The wind howled in the distance and she shivered again. "I hope everyone else is alright," was the only thing she said, however.

Eriol's eyes softened. "If you don't want my jacket, you can have my arm."

"Ara?"

"You can sit next to me and I'll put my arm around you. It would make us both a little warmer. But if you don't want to, I'd understand."

Tomoyo thought about it. It would be very awkward lying against Eriol with his arm around her. They may have known each other since fourth grade, but they still didn't know each other very well. But, another gust of snow blew through the cave and she shivered. Maybe, just this once, as it was freezing cold. And, looking at the look of doubt on Eriol's face, maybe she'd have a chance of surprising him, and Eriol Hiiragizawa was barely ever surprised.

"Okay."

The word was almost too simple. Simple, yet very complicated indeed. Eriol's shock was evident on his face, but just for a second. Tomoyo smiled inwardly. She really shouldn't do this to him. Still, he wasn't exactly Mr. Innocent either. She scooted into his arms, and felt the difference. Yes, this was definitely better than sitting their freezing against the cold stone. In fact, the position was very comfortable. A very nice smell drifted towards her, and it took her a minute to realize that that was actually the smell of the person next to her. She mentally slapped herself.

__

Why? Why? What has gotten in to me? Am I feeling something for this person, who I haven't seen in years? Is something like that even possible? Doesn't he love someone else? Or…wait, he said that she married someone else. I wonder what happened. I thought she loved him back? *sigh* We both are very much alike. I wonder if he thinks that I smell good… Tomoyo! Now you're just back to where you started… And so her cycle of thoughts repeated over again in her head, and it was starting to give her a headache. So she decided to stop thinking altogether, and grew completely bored of glaring at the stone floor. 

She started to drift to sleep. 

Sleep…something was telling her that sleep was bad. But she ignored that tiny little voice, because she was so tired. And she was comfortable, and was drowning in that smell. Being in the arms of Eriol felt so safe. Sleep wouldn't hurt, so maybe just for a little while… no, stay awake, you have to…stay…awake…

**

__

The girl found herself in meadow. The sky was clear blue, and she was running amidst the violet magnolias of the field. She was wearing a light blue summer dress, with a white color and white cuffs, with a matching hat. Someone was chasing her, and she was laughing.

"You'll never catch me!" she yelled to the person behind her.

"Wanna bet?"

She laughed again, and started up a hill. She hurried up the slope, slowing down a little bit, and stopped at the top. She turned and yelled down to the person running up the hill after her. No sooner had she opened her mouth had he reached the top and "caught" her, embracing

her. They collapsed to the ground, surrounded by violets. The girl laughed again, leaning against her captor. She closed her eyes, sighing contently. "You caught me."

"I told you I would."

"So now what are you going to do about it?"

"You'll see." He leaned forward, inches away from her face. She smiled, closing her eyes and leaning forward. And then, he said, "Wake up!"

"What…?" she said, opening her eyes and frowning.

"Wake up!" Now his voice sounded so far away, but he was right in front of her…and then he wasn't. "Please wake up! Please!" He sounded so desperate. What was wrong?

And then everything was freezing, and the field of violets was only a snowy plain of ice and she shivered in her summer dress. Snow fell and stung her skin. She was so cold; so so cold. And all around her, it seemed as though the wind was roaring, yelling at her.

"Wake up, Tomoyo! Tomoyo! Please wake up! Tomoyo Daidouji, wake up now! Wake up now. You'll die. Please, please wake up. I don't want to lose you, either!" the voice sounded so desperate, and strangely familiar. Tomoyo was lost in a meadow of ice, biting wind, and darkness. All around her whispered this voice, begging her to wake up. "Please, wake up. Don't die on me. Tomoyo . . ." the voice sounded close to tears, "You're all I have to live for now, please wake up," it ended gently, with hope fading. And Tomoyo opened her eyes and saw light…

Tomoyo opened her eyes, blinking it sudden bright light. She found herself lost in deep pools of the blue-gray sky morning. Pools full of hope, and sudden joy upon seeing her awake. She found herself clinched in a warm hug. And then the person let go of her, embarrassed - she could tell by the crimson red splashed over his cheeks that he tried to hide by turning away.

"Eriol," was all she said. He nodded. He flinched, readying himself for some type of scorn or lecture. He hadn't meant to envelope her like that, but he had been so happy to find out she was alive that he couldn't help himself. Staring into her beautiful lilac eyes hadn't helped, either. "Did you mean it?"

He blinked, puzzled. "Mean . . . what?" She stared at him, and he felt as though she were burning a hole through his heart. Then he realized it. "You heard what I said?"

"I had a dream. I was running through a field of violets, and someone was chasing me. And he caught me at the top of a hill, and I felt like I was at the top of the world, sitting there in his arms. And he was right about to - right about to kiss me, when suddenly he changed his mind and instead said, 'wake up!'. Then, I was in a dark, freezing void, and around me, the wind whispered and roared and sang a song of desperate hope."

"That's a very interesting description."

"And then, I woke up to find the very same eyes that were in my dream. So tell me, Eriol Hiiragizawa, did you mean it?"

Tomoyo waited patiently for his answer. And yes, she did have to wait a minute or two. He was avoiding eye contact, and she assumed that he was embarrassed. Hiiragizawa-kun – Eriol, was actually embarrassed? What had she done to him? She couldn't stand for this, not if it hurt him. She never heard his answer, because something distracted her. It was…light that was coming from the entrance of the cave. She blinked, and then the smile crept across her face.

"We did it," she whispered, so exciting she couldn't raise her voice any louder. "We survived."

Eriol turned and followed her gaze, still not saying anything, afraid he'd choke on his own voice.

Tomoyo jumped up, forgetting the past few moments. "Let's go! Sakura-chan and Li-kun are probably worried to death about us!" Eriol stood up, and they ran out of the cave to the bright heaven-like ambiance before them.

=^.^=

"Sakura-chan! Li-kun!" Tomoyo was yelling by the time they were halfway up the hill. It turned out, that they had never been that far from the cabin. They had been at the bottom of the large hill, in a cave only a few feet away from the edge of the forest. It was bright as morning, which was strange. Tomoyo had expected sunset, maybe evening, when they were to finally exit the small cave. She'd figure that out later.

"SAH - KOO - LA - CHAAAN!" she yelled, her voice filling the entire landscape. She reached the top of the hill and met Sakura, Syaoran, Sying, and little Ayame. Sakura hugged Tomoyo in a giant bear hug, and even hugged Eriol, too, when he reached the top.

They went inside so that Eriol and Tomoyo could finally warm up. They changed, each grabbing a cup of hot cocoa, and moved their chairs next to the fireplace. 

"So, do tell, where was Ayame after all?" Tomoyo asked, following the moment they settled down.

"Well, after looking around the house everywhere, we gave up and all sat down. We hoped that maybe you had found her, but after you didn't come back we started to get worried. Then, we heard, 'No! No, Aunt Tomoyo, don't do it!' coming from under the couch. And, lo and behold, there was our little Ayame, who had somehow managed to wedge herself under the couch and fall asleep," Sakura answered.

"Wow."

"What happened to you two, anyway?" Syaoran asked. To which Tomoyo and Eriol blushed and mumbled. Syaoran and Sakura raised their eyebrows.

"Well, um, we just… Eriol-kun found a cave and we stayed there. How long were we away, anyway?"

"A whole night! Do you know how late we stayed up worrying about you?" 

"A whole night?!" Eriol and Tomoyo chorused.

"That would seem quite impossible. It could not have been over two hours," Eriol said.

"It was possible, and it did happen. It's late morning, take a look at any clock."

"So then that would mean that it's Christmas."

"Now that they remember it's Christmas," Ayame said, "can we open our presents yet?"

Sakura laughed. "Sure, go ahead."

"Yay!" Ayame and Sying hurried over to the small tree in the corner. Tomoyo took a sip of her hot cocoa. "Do you mind if I go outside?"

"Didn't you spend enough time outside in the cold?" Syaoran asked, suspicious.

"No, we don't mind. But don't stay out long, you might catch a cold."

"I'm surprised that they didn't catch one already." Sakura elbowed her husband.

Tomoyo stood up and grabbed a coat on the way out.

Outside, it was snowing once more. But this time it was a light snow, with soft flakes and a bright sky. Tomoyo leaned against the wall and stared out at the horizon.

"Yes."

Tomoyo turned, startled, to find Eriol standing in the doorway.

"Yes, I meant what I said."

"It's about time you answered. I was afraid that you'd never speak to me again."

Eriol joined her against the wall. He couldn't tell if she was happy or disappointed, he couldn't read emotions in her eyes like he used to. "Afraid?"

"If you never spoke to me again, then I'd never hear your voice. I'd never be able to talk to you again. I was afraid of everything." 

"Afraid of everything?"

"I was afraid that we would not survive the cold storm. I wanted to give up last night so many times. I was afraid of the roaring wind, the biting cold, and the darkness. But then you saved me, protected me, worried about me. And then I was afraid of losing that, too, when you never answered."

"I'm not that easy to get rid of."

"I should have known that, shouldn't I?"

"Yes." He lifted his hand to caress her cheek.

She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?"

"About Kaho."

"Don't be. I found someone better."

"So have I," Tomoyo leaned into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder, "So have I."

And so, with the soft snowfall on a Christmas morning, Tomoyo and Eriol realized that even in the harsh coldness of the night, there is always a bright morning following, and that you can survive anything, when you're with the person you love.


End file.
